The present invention relates to computer work stations and, in particular, it concerns an inexpensive and comfortable computer display viewing support.
In recent years more and more people spend an increasing amount of time working with computers and viewing computer displays, either professionally or as Internet users. To meet the needs of this growing market, extensive thought has been given to devise convenient, space-saving supports or work-stations to make a user's position in front of the computer more comfortable and less tiresome. Such supports are disclosed, for instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,450, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, and the references cited therein. These work supports, with integral chairs, were designed primarily for professional users in offices, rather than for domestic environments.
Baru, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,358 and PCT publication no WO99/04670, whose disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, discloses a computer work station including a user's seat and a monitor supporting tray positioned in front of the seat. The work station comprises a first chassis unit having a first base, an elongated seat supporting member, and first varying means for varying the location of the seat along the seat supporting member between a relatively reclining position and a relatively upright position. The work station further comprises a second chassis unit having a second base, an elongated monitor supporting member, and second varying means for varying the location of the monitor supporting tray between an uppermost position and a lowermost position. A coupling means is employed to couple the seat to the monitor supporting tray so that displacement of the seat toward the relatively reclining position results in the displacement of the monitor supporting tray toward the uppermost position, and displacement of the seat toward the relatively upright position results in the displacement of the monitor supporting tray toward the lowermost position. The disclosed mechanical coupling means between the seat and the monitor supporting tray involves cables and springs, offering a relatively inflexible, coupled mechanical adjustment of positions, in addition to a relatively large support footprint of the entire work station.
There is therefore a need to provide a modular and compact computer display viewing support that may be used with or without integral seating to allow maximum flexibility in viewing a computer display.